Free Making the Team by Scott Prince Page B

the classroom next to a Kiwi kid. I think he’s a Kiwi. He looks at my Cowboys schoolbag. I jam it under the desk.
    â€œCowboys suck, man. You should go for the Warriors,” he says. I don’t say anything. I get out my maths book and do the mentals that are on the whiteboard. When I finish, I look around the room. Everyone is staring at me – the new kid. Everyone except for Mr Barwick, that is. He’s sitting at his desk playing a Nintendo DS. He’s concentrating really hard.
    â€œHe loves Super Mario Brothers,” whispers the kid next to me.
    Mr Barwick catches me watching him and closes the DS. “OK, kids, let’s mark that maths!” Everyone stops looking at me and we swap books.

Chapter 8
    Scary Boy
    It’s half-past three. Mum hasn’t arrived to pick me up. She must still be at work. I try to remember the way we came in the car this morning. I walk down the street and turn left at the lights. Up ahead is a corner shop. There’s a sign in the window that says “Get your footy cards here”. I’m about to go inside when a group of kids comes running out and almost knocks me over. The kid at the front is the boy I sat next to in class. “Get him!” the gang yells. They’re all wearing the same red and black uniform as me. They look a bit older. They must be in grade seven. The kid in my class is running as fast as his skinny legs can take him. It looks like he’s going to get flogged so I decide to follow. I have to run fast to keep up.

    They run down near the water and behind a jetty. One of the grade sevens is wrestling with the Kiwi kid. There’s a crowd around them, chanting “JA-RED, JA-RED, JA-RED!” It’s Jared Knutz, the boy I saw in Mr Woolly’s office with his dad. He looks as mean and scary as his dad did this morning. His fat fingers are wrapped around the kid’s collar. He lifts him so high into the air that his feet are off the ground. Then he slams him against one of the jetty posts.
    â€œDid you get the smokes like I told you to?” Jared growls, his red fringe hangs over his menacing eyes. He’s wearing a New York Yankees cap sideways.
    â€œNah. Smokes are for dopes, bro!” the Kiwi kid replies. Jared pulls his fist back and smiles. I know what he’s about to do. He thrusts his fist forwards, punching the Kiwi kid in the guts. The Kiwi kid drops to his knees and gasps for air. The other kids laugh. I can feel my anger rising.
    â€œKnock it off you moron and stop being a bully!” I say. Everyone turns around.
    â€œWhat did you call me?” he says as he twists his Yankees cap around to the front.
    â€œYou heard me. Don’t pick on him. He’s smaller than you,” I shout. Sweat starts forming on my forehead. Jared walks up and grabs my shirt and throws me on some rocks. My knee stings. I look down and see blood. Heaps of it. My eyes flicker and my hands shake. The anger builds up inside me and I try to stop it. But I can’t hold back my secret any longer.

Chapter 9
    The Curse
    I am cursed. It’s been like this for as long as I can remember. I don’t like getting angry. If I do, something bad happens, something very bad. When I lose my temper, I turn into a man-creature. When I say man, I mean a massive, wild and hairy man with a body full of muscles.
    Mum doesn’t like it when it happens. She thinks the army would take me away if anyone saw me and reported it. That’s what happens in those superhero movies. Then again, Mum doesn’t really watch those types of movies. She’s more into chick flicks and that.
    The only other person to see me turn into the man-creature was Dad. The first time it happened I was just a baby. Dad was helping Mum dry me after my bath. He wentto shake some talcum powder on me but accidentally dropped the plastic bottle on my head. I immediately started to howl and my face went wild. My tiny naked baby body started